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~~~~~Blog Bitz ~~~~~ for Christmas At the Little Village Bakery by Tilly Tennant

Today I am delighted to share with you an extract of CHRISTMAS AT THE LITTLE VILLAGE BAKERY by Tilly Tennant which is out today and you can grab your copy on the link below.UK: http://amzn.to/29glVkfUS: http://amzn.to/295yTw0

It’s time to get toasty by the fire with a glass of mulled wine and a slice of chocolate yule log sprinkled with a little romance. Welcome to Christmas at the Little Village Bakery.

Snow is falling in Honeybourne and Spencer is bringing home his American fiancée Tori for a traditional English Christmas with all the trimmings. But when his hippie mum and dad meet her high-maintenance parents, sparks of the wrong sort start to fly. Then Spencer bumps into his first love Jasmine and unexpected feelings come flooding back.

Millie is run off her feet with Christmas orders at the Little Village Bakery and new baby Oscar. Thank goodness her cousin Darcie is here to help her. Although she does seem to be rather flirty with Millie’s boyfriend Dylan.

Will Darcie ever find true love of her own? And is marrying Tori a terrible mistake for Spencer if his heart is with someone else?

It felt like the world had been muffled. Their breath rose in plumes into the air against a landscape that was white as far as the eye could see. Gentle feathers of snow fell silently, frosting their coats and hair.

Tori gripped Spencer’s hand tighter and he looked down at her with a broad grin as they trudged along the path that led to the Old Bakery, his unruly black hair peeking out from beneath a woolly hat and his startling blue eyes alive with humour. Her tiny frame was bundled up in a huge padded coat, and he could barely see her flame-red hair beneath the hat and scarf wrapped around it, but the perfect nose that turned up a little at the end, and the blue eyes set in a face that looked a good deal younger than her twenty-eight years, peeked out at him from the layers, and he couldn’t think of a time when she had looked lovelier.

As he drew in a lungful of frosty air, he was filled with joy to see the paths and fields of Honeybourne that meant they were home – at least, his home; though, in time, he hoped that it might become hers too. He had enjoyed his time in Colorado teaching on the exchange programme at a school in Boulder – aside from being the place where he had found Tori it was a beautiful part of the world – but he had been away for over a year, apart from the one brief visit in the spring for the opening of the Old Bakery, and a year was a long time to be parted from the place he felt rooted to.

‘I bet you didn’t expect to go from snow in Boulder to more snow here,’ he said.

‘You get snow in England too.’

‘Yeah, but usually at Easter, not Christmas,’ Spencer laughed. ‘One of the supreme ironies of all those songs about white Christmases is that in real life you don’t get a flake of the stuff until at least March.’

‘I can deal with snow. It’ll shake the jet lag off a bit.’

‘Maybe we should have had another snooze at home before venturing out to meet everyone,’ Spencer said thoughtfully. ‘I’m sure they would have understood if we’d put off the reunions until we were feeling right.’

‘Best way to deal with jet lag is to battle through it,’ Tori announced stoically. ‘When you’re exhausted, your body won’t care whether it thinks it’s bedtime or not.’

‘If you say so. And is the jet lag being shook off?’

‘Not really,’ Tori grinned. ‘I never said it was a foolproof plan.’

‘Maybe it’s the wrong sort of snow… How’s our English snow holding up against your American stuff?’

‘It’s a bit wet.’

‘Don’t you dare add anything to that about it being like the English people…’

‘I would never say that,’ Tori smiled. ‘I love the English people. One in particular I love more than anyone in the world…’

Spencer’s grin widened, and he gave her hand a squeeze. He’d waited so long to hear those words. ‘I love you too,’ he said.

She turned to him with an impish gleam in her eye. ‘Oh, did you think I meant you? I was talking about your friend, Millie, obviously. After all, anyone who can make chocolate cake like she does has to be worthy of my love.’

Spencer bent to kiss her lightly on the lips. They were cold, but yielded and warmed beneath his own. ‘That’s exactly why I love you, chocolate cake or no. And you’re really getting the hang of the British sarcasm thing.’

‘I’m not sure that’s a compliment.’

‘Of course it is.’

Tori raised her eyebrows. The action was just about visible below the rim of her red and blue reindeer-motif bobble-hat. ‘Is that the British sarcasm thing?’

‘I’m afraid so.’

‘Then you’d better watch it, buster. We may not have sarcasm in Boulder but we do have fists.’

Spencer threw back his head and laughed. The sound echoed down the frozen lane. Then he scooped Tori into his arms and planted another kiss on her lips, this one more passionate than the last. ‘I really do love you, Tori Annabelle Dempsey.’

‘Hey…’ She smiled as she pulled away, catching her breath. ‘If you do that again we might not make it to the bakery.’

‘I’m sure they won’t mind if we’re late.’

‘That’s rude. Didn’t your parents teach you anything?’

‘You can ask them in a couple of days when they arrive back from Spain.’

Tori’s smile faded. ‘You think they’ll like me?’

‘Of course they’ll like you. Quite frankly, I don’t care anyway. I love you, and that’s the only thing that matters.’

‘You didn’t say that when you were stressing about meeting my parents.’

‘That’s different.’

‘How?’

‘It just is. Your parents are… Well, let’s just say they take a lot more impressing than mine will. And fathers are always more protective of daughters, aren’t they?’

‘Are they?’

Spencer nodded as he set her on the path again.

‘I don’t buy it,’ Tori said. ‘Your parents will be just as tough to crack as mine were.’

‘Ah, so you do admit that your parents are tough!’

‘Maybe a little.’

Spencer grinned. But then it disappeared. It was bad enough that his parents were going to meet Tori and her parents for the first time, but his anxieties weren’t helped by the fact that Tori’s parents had met Spencer once before and made it quite clear they hated him. But he tried not to dwell on that. Tori had told him not to worry, and briefly explained that it was all to do with some guy named Hunter that they had earmarked as a potential husband for her. It wasn’t Spencer’s fault that he wasn’t Hunter, she’d told him, but in time they would get over that. Maybe he could salvage things over Christmas, when people were feeling a little more charitable and disposed to love their fellow men?

‘Maybe we should have done all this before we set a date for the wedding,’ he said. ‘What if our parents don’t like each other?’

‘Well, at least they won’t have to see much of each other as yours live in Spain and mine live in Colorado.’

‘That will certainly put paid to a life of weekend bridge tournaments.’

‘Never mind that, what if they hate each other and it ruins Christmas for everyone?’ Tori asked, anxiety creeping into her tone for the first time. ‘We can always “forget” to ask them to the wedding, but they’re already on their way for Christmas so there’s no saving that.’

‘My mum would never speak to me again if we didn’t ask them to the wedding and Dad always takes her side over everything.’

‘Neither would my mom but I’m still prepared to risk it if you are.’

Spencer tried to smile but he couldn’t. He wanted to believe it was just because his face was so cold. ‘I’m sure it will be fine.’

‘No, you’re not. You’re chewing your lip.’

He clamped his mouth shut and pulled her close. ‘This is our first Christmas together – at least officially – and I won’t let anyone spoil that, parents or otherwise.’

About Tilly Tennant:

From a young age, Tilly Tennant was convinced that she was destined for the stage. Once she realised she wasn’t actually very good at anything that would put her on the stage, she started to write stories instead. There were lots of terrible ones, like The Pet Rescue Gang (aged eight), which definitely should not see the light of day ever again. Thankfully, her debut novel,Hopelessly Devoted to Holden Finn was not one of those, and since it hit the Amazon best seller lists she hasn’t looked back. Born in Dorset, she currently lives in Staffordshire with her husband, two daughters, three guitars, four ukuleles, two violins and a kazoo.